


5 Times MJ Tried to Figure Out Peter’s Secret, and 1 Time She Didn’t Have to

by The_Heroes_Time_Forgot



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: AU, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-07 19:03:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16414121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Heroes_Time_Forgot/pseuds/The_Heroes_Time_Forgot
Summary: Michelle Jones was tired.Not tired as in exhausted. No she was tired of Peter.Peter Parker and his endless stream of excuses for his being late all the time. Excuses that were then expressed through Ned to their teachers.MJ could safely say that Peter was hiding something, and that Ned was in on it.And she was going to find out what. Being a future investigative reporter, she had to start somewhere.





	1. (One Of) The Times She Covered For Him In Class

Michelle Jones was tired.

Not tired as in exhausted. No she was tired of Peter. 

Peter Parker and his endless stream of excuses for his being late all the time. Excuses that were then expressed through Ned to their teachers. Sometimes MJ herself would have to fill people in when Ned was sick or on vacation or what not.

She had no idea why Peter was always so late almost every day, but she didn’t believe the stories of “My bus broke down, and there were no cabs.” (Where in New York is there ever not a cab?) or “Delmar’s had a huge line.” (It doesn’t matter how long the line is, Delmar’s has the quickest service time of any sandwich shop in Queens.) or “May is sick and I had to get some stuff done around the house for her.”

That one was particularly impossible because, as anyone who’d met her knew, May Parker did not get sick. Ever. 

Or at least she didn’t act like it. May would power through anything like she was an unstoppable locomotive and come out on the other side stronger than ever. Nothing held her back.

So MJ could safely say that Peter was hiding something, and that Ned was in on it. 

And she was going to find out what. Being a future investigative reporter, she had to start somewhere.

————————————————————————

MJ was on the phone, trying to reach the dweeb-lord known to most as Peter Parker before their Spanish Quiz started and he was given an automatic zero.

“C’mon, loser, pick up the phone.” She muttered impatiently, tapping her foot on the ground.

Finally, on the fourth ring, he picked up.

_”Hello? MJ? What’s wrong?”_

“What’s wrong?! Peter, what’s wrong is that you have 5 minutes to get your ass to Spanish or you’re getting an F on a quiz that you can literally only fail if you’re not here! Where are you?!” She whisper-yelled, looking back into the classroom to see their teacher, Ms. Osada, giving her a dirty look.

She smiled back, waving like nothing was wrong.

 _“I’m... on the bus.”_ He told her, but the pause between words to catch his breath, as well as the sound of wind rushing by him told her otherwise, _“Had to take a different one... first one got a flat.”_

She turned back around, rolling her eyes. She wasn’t about to argue with him in the odds of that actually happening, or that she could clearly hear him straining with something every few seconds. She didn’t have time.

_”I’m almost there. Just stall for me, okay? Please?”_

“Peter, how am I supposed to-“

_”You’ll think of something. You always do. Just a few minutes and I’ll be there. I promise.”_

She sighed, internally cursing herself, “Fine. But you owe me, big time.”

Peter laughed on the other end, _”How many is that now? Eight? Nine? I lost track. Anyway, thank you. See you soon.”_

He hung up before she could respond, and she stood up straight, tucking her phone back into her pocket.

She turned and walked back into the classroom calmly, looking around at the room, _’How the hell am I gonna stall...?_

Then she saw it. One of the girls near the front of her row had a glass water bottle filled up full with something that was coloured blue and almost definitely sugary.

_’Bingo.’_

She walked down her aisle, kicking her foot out a bit more than usual as she passed the girl, and causing herself to trip over the leg of her desk. 

“Oh!” Michelle cried in fake surprise as she fell towards the ground, only just catching herself on the edge of the desk as the girl’s water bottle fell to the floor, shattering on the ground.

“Oh, shit!” The girl exclaimed at her shattered bottle. MJ started to apologize, but was quickly shooed away by the teacher, who told her to go sit at her desk before she made anything worse. 

Doing as she was told, MJ watched anxiously as Ms. Osada called the custodian and told him that he’d need to come clean it _after_ the quiz. 

Michelle’s brain went into overdrive trying to buy Peter more time. Her hand shot up before an idea had formed in her head fully.

Osada gave her a narrow eyed look, “Yes, Miss Jones?”

The words came from MJ’s mouth as she thought of them, “Shouldn’t we at least have something to cover it? So people don’t slip?”

Ms. Osada sighed, grabbing a roll of paper towels from her desk and taking it over to the spill. She tore a few free and placed them down on the puddle

At the exact same moment, Peter ran in, unbeknownst to Ms. Osada. He silently crept past her while she was distracted, earning an amused look from MJ as he took his seat beside her.

“Thank you so much.” He whispered to her. She rolled her eyes and said nothing, opting to instead hold out a closed fist towards him. Which he bumped quickly as he got himself situated.

A darkened bruise on the back of his head, just peaking out from under the hair behind his ear, caught her eye, and she internally logged it in her mental notes for figuring out his secret.

A minute later the bell rang, attendance was called, and Michelle was so happy. Because while Peter was almost always late, whenever he said he was almost there, he meant it.

Both of them passed their quizzes with 100%.


	2. The Time He Got Some “Professional Help”

Decathlon practice was another thing that Peter was regularly late to, if he came at all.

He loved to be there. MJ knew it. Ned knew it. Everyone else knew it, it was just that he was rarely actually there. 

Today this was the case, once again.

Ned walked in early, causing her to lift her head from setting up for practice. She narrowed her eyes at him. He smiled sheepishly at her and waved, “Hey, MJ. Need any help?”

“No, thank you. I just finished up. Where’s geek number 2?” She asked, stepping down from the stage.

“Uh, he should be here in a bit. Just got caught up... in physics class.” Ned told her nervously. 

She tilted her head, not letting up on the look she was giving him, “I thought Peter had English last period?”

“Uh...” Ned looked like his mind was racing faster than it’d gone in his life. The poor kid looked like he was about to faint, “Uh, well, ya see-“

She shook her head and walked over to where her stuff was sitting, taking her place at the captain’s podium, “Just go to your table, Leeds.”

He did so, thankful for being let off the hook this time. He sat down and instantly pulled out his phone to text someone. Probably Peter, because Ned didn’t have anybody that he texted on a regular basis other than Peter and Michelle. 

The end-of-day bell rang, and the rest of the decathlon team slowly made their way to the gymnasium. Surprisingly, (Not really), Peter wasn’t there. 

Again.

“Ned? Where is Peter?” MJ asked, leaning on her podium by her elbows while resting her head on the tops of her hands. She looked at him expectantly.

Ned was looking at his phone, so his head shot up at the mention of his name, “Huh? what?”

“Where is Parker?” Flash asked from the other table, leaning over to look at Ned.

“Ummm... He had to leave... he got called in to the Stark Internship.”

MJ believed Ned’s excuses about as much as she believed Peter’s, but she wasn’t going to call him out in front of the team. Not directly, anyway.

“Tell Peter that I want a note from Tony Stark saying that he was the reason he was absent from practice.” Ned had a semi-panicked look on his face, while MJ had a triumphant one. Peter was never going to be able to get a note from Tony Stark, and when he didn’t, she could confront him about this, “Stark Internship” he keeps disappearing to, “Cindy, you’re filling in for Peter today.”

———————————————

Okay, so her plan didn’t go exactly as expected.

Peter didn’t have a note. That much she got right, but he did have something better.

MJ was setting up for a lunchtime practice, when Peter walked in. 

“Ah, the prodigal son returns. Ned tell you what I told him to?”

Peter nodded, looking somewhat uncomfortable, and there was a commotion from the hallway. Happy and excited screaming and flashes of pictures being taken.

“What the hell is that?” Michelle asked aloud. She got her answer almost immediately.

Into the gym, wearing a very, very, very expensive suit and a pair of shades, walked Tony Stark.

The billionaire was at Midtown Tech, a school buried deep in the heart of Queens where he had absolutely no business being.

Yet here he was.

He walked right up to MJ, stoping beside Peter and putting a hand on his shoulder, “You must be Ms. Jones.”

MJ was in shock, but steadied herself, “That would be me.”

He smiled and held his hand out, “Tony.”

She took it, shaking it firmly.

Tony Stark started walking around, looking at everything on the walls of the gym, and eventually making his way into the stage. He picked up Peter’s set of flashcards that were on his table.

“Flashcards as a means of testing memory response, or do you have the answers and they have the questions? How does this all work?”

“Uh, well, actually those are for at home practice. I set them out so the team can go over them before our next practice, so they know the questions I’m going to ask.” She told him, her voice somehow not wavering. He nodded, seemingly impressed. MJ took a quick breath, “If you don’t mind me asking...”

“I don’t.”

“... why are you here?”

He didn’t say anything. He just pointed at Peter as he sat down in Peter’s chair.

Michelle looked to Peter with alarm. He’d actually brought Tony Stark to the school. How in the hell did he manage that?

Peter shrugged, “I told him it wasn’t necessary. He insisted.”

Tony got up again, walking down the steps, “Mr. Parker here, is one of my best interns I have ever hired. He’s got a real shot at getting the real job one day.”

Both MJ and Peter looked at him in surprise.

“After he’s graduated and gone to University and all that jazz. The Uni bit I’ll be fully funding myself.” He reached into his inner suit pocket, pulling out a folded piece of paper and handing it to Michelle, “I was told you wanted a note to verify that he missed practice because of me. There ya go. Frame it, notarize it, keep it in a drawer, pin it to a wall, I don’t care. Just wanna make sure this kid doesn’t get in trouble because of me.” He clapped a hand onto Peter’s shoulder.

“Okay, Pete, I gotta go. I’ll leave you and your girlfriend to sort this out. See ya later, kid.” Then he walked out of the gym, Peter’s eyes practically bulging out of his head at Stark’s words.

“Oh, No, Mister Stark, she’s not my... we’re not...” he tried to say, following the Avenger a few steps, but he was already out the door.

MJ stared down at the note, then up at Peter, “How in hell did you get Tony Stark to come and hand deliver a note of absence for you?”

Peter just shrugged, “Stark Internship.” He said simply.

Both of them glossed over the fact that the billionaire had called Michelle Peter’s ‘girlfriend’. They weren’t going to address that right now.

What MJ did think about, was how this threw a wrench into her investigation. It didn’t make it impossible, just more challenging.

She’d have to do more digging.


	3. The Time She Got Help From a “Friendly Neighbour”

Of course. Of course this would happen. 

Peter had asked if MJ want to go see a movie with him. He normally went with Ned, but he was out of town for a vacation in some country where it was not below freezing in the middle of November.

Of course she’d said yes. Because he’s her friend. Friends go see movies together.

And, of course, he was late. She had tried to call him, but he hadn’t answered.

She’d gotten moderately dressed up, which, in hindsight, really was not as necessary as she’d once thought. It was just a friendly outing among two friends.

It was just Peter. 

And her.

Together.

In a dark theatre.

For 2 hours.

Side by side just close enough for their shoulders to bump into each other if they shifted in their seats.

Completely normal.

In any case, MJ was now standing in front of the theatre in her warmest jacket and scarf. Completely impractical when paired with the leggings she had on, which did nothing to preserve body heat.

_’Thermal lining my ass. God damn useless.’_ She thought, forcing herself to focus her attention elsewhere. 

She started people-watching. Observing little mannerisms and quirks about those entering and leaving the building:

A mother and four kids under 10, all more well behaved than she ever was at that age, going in for a family event.

A couple walking in hand in hand, giving each other wide smiles and giggles as they walked in.

Several people came and went alone, which made MJ wonder if they’d done that by choice, or if they’d planned to meet someone?

A group of dude-bros came out after seeing the latest action flick, one of them stopping in front of MJ to light a cigarette, the smoke blowing into her face, causing her to cough and her people-watching to come to a halt.

“Oh, sorry hot-stuff.” He apologized, though Michelle didn’t think he was actually sorry, “Didn’t see ya there.”

“I find that unlikely, seeing as you are standing next to me.” She scoffed, covering her mouth and nose with her scarf.

The guy turned to her, taking another drag, but being oh so gracious to blow the smoke away from her this time, “What’s a nice lookin’ girl like you doing waitin’ out here in the cold?” He smirked and Michelle’s stomach turned, “Looking for a man to help warm you up?”

She rolled her eyes, “Yes, actually. One in particular: my boyfriend.” She was hoping that would make him back off, and if not, she was really hoping that Peter would show up soon and be able to play a believable boyfriend.

The guy looked around, then back to her, “I’m not seeing him anywhere. Why don’t I warm you up instead?”

Michelle’s fingers wrapped around the pepper-spray in her pocket, popping the cap off so she was ready if the situation called for it, “Sorry, I’m not taking auditions for a replacement tonight. Better luck next time.”

“I wasn’t really askin’” The guy looked irritated, and that made her take a step back. He took a step towards her.

“Excuse me, sir.” A familiar sounding voice came from somewhere, and MJ looked around until her eyes locked into a certain red and blue clad individual hanging upside down from the awning they were standing under, “I don’t believe this young lady is enjoying the attention you’re giving her. I think it’s best that you get going.”

The guy looked up at Spider-Man, glaring at him, “This isn’t your business, freak.”

The eyes of Spider-Man’s suit widened, and he dropped to the ground from his webbing that he’d been hanging from. He put a hand to his chest, speaking in a mocking tone, “Ow, that hurt my feelings.”

The guy’s friends had started to surround Spider-Man, and the guy smirked. God he was a dick, “I’m gonna hurt a lot more than just your feelings if you don’t back off, Spidey.”

Michelle took a few more steps back. She’d seen videos of Spider-Man fighting people. She knew that these guys were not prepared whatsoever, and that they were probably gonna go all over the place.

Spider-Man looked around at the guys around him. Eight in total.

“Aw, guys. Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s not nice to gang up on people?” He joked, firing a web at one of the guys, immediately sticking him to the wall. One down already.

Another threw a punch, and Spider-Man webbed his hand and pulled, making him punch himself in the face, “Oooh. That one hurt, didn’t it? Yeah, that looked like it hurt.”

Two guys came from either side of him, and he jumped to the ceiling, “Oh! You guys just wanted a hug? Why didn’t ya say so?” He webbed the guys together as they ran into each other, “Here, hug him.”

The main guy was hanging back, waiting for an opportunity to get a shot in when Spider-Man was preoccupied with his buddies. MJ took out her can of pepper-spray, and pulled her foot back before slamming it into the back of the guys knee, making him drop to the ground.

He looked at her, and she sprayed him directly in the eyes. He screamed. Spider-Man shot a web at him, trapping him against the ground, “Boy oh boy, did you ever mess with the wrong girl.” He laughed as he turned back to the last jerk from the group.

MJ looked at the ones she’d missed. The other two were both wrapped in webbing and hanging from the ceiling of the awning. The last one charged at Spider-Man, who ran towards him as well. 

At the last second, Spider-Man slid underneath the guy through his legs, jumping off the ground as he cleared him and spinning. He landed two quick kicks to the guys face, and he went down hard, “Sleep it off.”

He landed, looking around quickly to make sure there weren’t anymore before walking up to Michelle, “You okay, Miss?”

MJ nodded, he breathing only the slightest bit shaken, “I’m fine. I just wasn’t expecting that.” Some small thing in the back of her mind noticed that he was shorter than her. Not by much, maybe an inch or three, but she was definitely taller than Spider-Man.

Interesting.

He laughed and looked at the guys, “Yeah, well some people don’t know that it’s not a good idea to fight Spider-Man if you don’t have powers.” He looked back at her, “Do you need anything else? I can take you home if you’d prefer?”

She shook her head, keeping up her lie she’d told the asshole who was now stuck to the ground. As thankful as she was that Spider-Man had come to her rescue, she still didn’t know him. Best not to share everything about oneself with anyone you don’t know, “Thank you, but I’m okay. Waiting for my boyfriend.”

Spider-Man’s eyes widened for a moment, “Uh...” he seemed caught off guard by her statement. He cleared his throat, “Ah, boyfriend, okay. I’ll just... be going then. Have a good night, Miss.” Then he shot a web above them, and he was off, swinging away and around a corner.

Michelle looked around at the guys now webbed up and knocked out, then her phone buzzed. She looked at it, and found a message waiting for her.

Parker: _“Hey, sorry I missed your call. Phone was dead. R u there already?”_

She shook her head, typing a reply. What was she gonna do with him?

_“Yeah, I’m here. And I’ve got quite the story to tell, so get your butt over here.”_

About a minute later, Peter ran around the corner and over to her, not even noticing the webbing and knocked out guys on the ceiling and sidewalk.

“Hey, sorry about that. Got caught up with homework.”

She waved off his excuse, “It’s fine. Look at this.” She pointed to all the guys, “Spider-Man was just here. He fought eight guys and helped me.”

Peter looked nonchalantly at the webbed guy at his feet, “Huh. Neat.”

MJ looked at him, puzzled. 

Ever since Spider-Man had first appeared, Peter was always looking up videos and info on him when he thought nobody was looking. So why wasn’t he excited now?

“You okay, Peter?”

He jumped at the sound of her voice, seemingly yanked out of a daydream of some kind, “Uh, Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking.”

“You sure?” She pressed, not convinced by his answer.

He nodded quickly, “Yep. Let’s go inside, shall we?” Without waiting for an answer, he stepped over the guy webbed to the ground at his feet and hurriedly walked inside, MJ having to jog to catch up to him.

They had fun at the movie. They went to see a sci-fi thing that took itself way too seriously for the small budget it had. They enjoyed laughing and making fun of it together.

MJ would later look back in Peter’s odd behaviour, but for now she was happy just sitting beside him, eating popcorn and and laughing as a terrible CGI creature ate people.


	4. The Time She Pushed a Bit Too Far

MJ knocked on the door of the relatively large apartment, her books in her hand and backpack sling over one shoulder. 11:00 on the dot, on Saturday morning. She loved being able to be on time.

“Just a second.” A woman’s voice called from the other side, and a moment later the door opened to reveal that woman.

“Hi, May.” Michelle greeted Peter’s aunt as she walked in.

“Hello, Michelle. How are you this morning?” May asked cheerily, closing the door as MJ entered.

“I’m pretty good. Got an early start so I’m wide awake...” MJ told her, then she looked at the closed door that lead to Peter’s room, “I’m going to guess that he doesn’t share that state of being at the moment.”

May laughed, “No, I’m afraid not, but you know how teenage boys are. Sleep til noon, then basically just eat and mess around until it’s time to sleep again.”

MJ laughed with her, “Yeah, that’s pretty accurate.” She thought for a moment, her eyes still on the door, “I’m gonna wake him up. This project can’t wait forever.”

She dropped her bag beside the couch and placed her books on the table, then made her way over to, and inside, Peter’s bedroom door.

She decided to be only a bit nicer than originally planned, “Rise and shine, loser. We got a project to finish.” She raised her voice and Peter’s eyes sleepily flickered open, looking up at Michelle, “MJ? What’re ya doin’ here?” His voice was gravely and somewhat slurred from literally just waking up. 

Then his eyes widened, and he was fully awake in an instant, “MJ! Hi, you’re here, in my room! Why?” He asked, panicked and frantically pulling his covers over himself. Why he was doing that, she wasn’t sure. She’d seen just a glimpse of clothing on him before he did, so she knew he wasn’t sleeping in the nude.

She brushed off the strange behaviour, “We have a project to finish for English, remember?”

Peter shut his eyes tight in recollection, “Dammit, that’s right. I forgot.”

She rolled her eyes, “No shit. Get dressed. Or just wear whatever red shirt you have on. Just make sure you have pants.”

He nodded with such intensity that she thought his head was going to fly off. He seemed to go pale when she mentioned his red shirt, or was she just imagining that?

“Just hurry up. You got two minutes before I drag you out here.” She told him, then left the room, closing the door behind her.

As she did, she could hear him racing to get dressed, the sound of him cursing under his breath and hopping around making her laugh.

He was out of his room in three minutes, twenty-seven seconds. Even when it was such a simple task, he was still late.

They started the project as soon as he came out, with him munching on toast as he worked on their physical presentation while she had her laptop and was creating their PowerPoint.

After about two hours, Michelle looked up from her laptop and found him leaning against the couch, his head smushed into the cushion as he snored.

He’d fallen asleep.

“PARKER!” She shouted.

He snapped awake, nearly falling over and yammering, “I wasn’t sleeping!”

MJ sighed, “Peter, what’s going on? Are you okay?”

He rubbed one eye, “What do you mean? Nothing is going on. Everything’s fine. I’m fine.”

She shook her head, “No, you’re not. You’re always late to class, or Decathlon, if you show up at all. You blow off Ned even when it’s stuff you guys love to do. You’re dropping out of all your favourite clubs. And now you’re falling asleep during a project that you said you couldn’t wait to do. Something is going on.”

He shook his head, staying adamant in his words, “There’s nothing going on. Everything is just great.”

MJ shut her laptop, “Peter, I know you well enough to know when you’re lying. Why won’t you just tell me what the hell is going on with you?”

Peter looked down. He seemed to be fighting himself on something, “I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?”

“I just can’t, okay?”

“Does Ned know what it is?”

He hesitated, “Yes.”

“Does May?”

His mouth hung open as he tried to reason, “Yes, but don’t go after them for information, please. I want to tell you, I really do. I just can’t.”

“Peter, you’ve told Ned, and you’ve told May, but you haven’t told me. How does that make sense?”

“Because I didn’t technically _tell_ them. They just kinda found out. I didn’t even want them to know.”

“So I have to find out for myself? You’re just not going to tell me at all?”

“MJ...”

“I thought we were better friends than that, Peter. I thought you knew that you can trust me with anything.”

“MJ.”

“What do I have to do that’ll get you to tell me? What, is it only because we haven’t been friends that long? Because that’s kind of a stupid reason to not include me in something that’s obviously bigger than just you-“

“MJ!” Peter shouted, and she stopped. Peter never raised his voice. He never got angry. This was new. This was different.

This was scary.

“It’s because I trust you that I can’t tell you, okay? Because that would mean you would know, and people could try and get that information out of you by any means necessary, and I’d never be able to live with myself if something happened to you because of me!”

Michelle stared at him. Her mind was racing through possibilities. What the hell could Peter be hiding that could put her in danger? 

Peter packed up the poster board and supplies, carrying them into his room, then coming back and grabbing his phone, “The visual will be done on Monday. I’ll see you in class.” His voice was hollow and hurting. He walked into his room and shut his door. Michelle heard the lock on his click, and she flinched at the sound.

She watched the door for a few minutes, waiting for him to come back out.

When he inevitably didn’t, she packed up her own stuff, putting it all in her backpack before quietly walking up to Peter’s door, and knocking softly, “Peter?”

No response.

“Peter I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were so invested in... whatever it is you’re invested in. I still want to know, but tell me when you’re ready. Maybe I can help with it?”

No response.

_‘That’s fair. I deserved that one.’_

She took a few steps towards the door to his apartment, “I’ll see you on Monday. Bye.”

She left without another word from either of them, not knowing that Peter had been a second from coming out of his room to tell her.


	5. The Time He Did Her a Favour

_’FuckFuckFuckFuck!’_ MJ thought to herself as she sprinted after the bus that was rapidly pulling away from the station, “Wait!”

It was no use, the driver didn’t hear her, and the bus drove away, as did her last chance to get to class on time. She ran a hand through her hair, looking around and considering her options. A cab wouldn’t get there with enough time, and running would get her there by lunch.

Suddenly, her phone started ringing, playing the tune of _The Imperial March_ which meant the world’s #1 dweeb was calling. 

She answered quickly, checking to see if there were any other buses coming soon enough, “Hey, Pete.”

_”Hey, MJ. I got you tea, but I can’t seem to find you... are you not in the library like usual?”_

She sighed, “No, I’m not. I slept through my alarms and I just watched my last chance at getting to school on time drive away.”

Peter was quiet for a minute, then made a sound like he had an idea, _“I think I know how to get you to school on time. Maybe even with a few minutes to spare.”_

“How’re you gonna do that, Parker? You don’t have a car, and last I checked you can’t teleport.”

_”I, uh, I’ll call in a favour from the Stark Internship.”_

MJ scoffed, “Tony Stark owes you a favour? Really?”

_”Well... not him exactly. I’ll call my guy and get him to pick you up, just don’t freak when he does, alright?”_

“Wait, what do you mean?”

 _“See ya soon, MJ.”_ Then he hung up, and Michelle looked at her phone like it had sprouted wings and was trying to fly away.

“What is he gonna do?” She said to herself. She got an answer pretty quickly.

“Did someone order an Uber?” A voice behind her asked, and she turned and saw Spider-Man, hanging upside down by a web looking at her.

“No way...” She breathed, and she could tell there was a smirk behind that mask of his, “Peter asked _you_ to come get me? And you said yes? I’m dreaming, aren’t I? This is a dream?”

“Oh no, Miss Jones. I’m actually here. Peter asked a favour after all.” He shrugged, rotating himself so he landed on his feet, “He’s a good kid. Geeky, but good.”

MJ shook her head to try and clear her vision to see if she was seeing things. She wasn’t, “Okay. So how do you plan to get me to school?”

Spider-Man tilted his head, “Uh, there’s really only one way I get around.” He gestured to his wrist, a small device around it that she guessed was how he shot his webs.

“Oh.” She mentally facepalmed at how stupid she probably sounded in front of this literal superhero. Then she realized what he was talking about, “Oh no. I can’t do that. I can’t do... heights.”

Spider-Man shrugged, “Well, it’s either that or you’re late for class.” He looked around at the buildings that surrounded the stop, then back to her. He held his hand to her, “Don’t worry, I’ve gotten a lot better since I started. I’m, like, 85% less likely to drop you compared to then.”

Her eyes widened as she started to seriously doubt Peter’s trust in this guy. 

The eyes of his suit mimicked her own, and he backpedaled, “Not literally. That was was joke, I won’t drop you.” He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, “Usually my humour puts people more at ease.” He shook his head to refocus, then offered his hand again, “I won’t drop you. I promise.”

Michelle hesitantly took a step towards him, then reached out and took his hand. He pulled her close so that she was against him, “Here. Put your arms around my neck, and grab onto your wrists behind my head.” He said, helping her as she did as she was told. Then he let a sheet of webbing out of one of his wrists, wrapping the layer around both of them a few times. She raised an eyebrow at him.

“Extra precautions.” He said, then shot a web up at the corner of a building and slingshot both of them up the building.

Michelle screamed from the time they left the ground to when they landed on the roof. Spider-Man faked clearing his ear, “Wow. You sure are loud.”

“Sorry. I told you I don’t like heights.”

He laughed, “It’s alright. Just, try and focus on something else, okay? We’ll be there in only a few minutes.” He shot another web at the side of another building, “You ready?”

Michelle took a breathe, then nodded.

Spider-Man held her tight as he jumped off the roof, the webbing holding strong like it was supposed to as they swung down block after block.

MJ tried what he’d suggested, focusing on anything but the fact that she was at least forty feet in the air and could feel the wind rushing past her as she was hanging onto a superhero that was carrying her to school.

Her senses honed in on his suit. It was fabric, that much she was certain, and because of that it was somewhat soft to the touch. But as she dug her fingertips into it, it seemed to harden into a sort of armour at the pressure points. It was as if the suit could respond to any impacts it was subjected to, and react accordingly.

Michelle laughed quietly, “So cool.”

Spider-Man’s arm seemed to tighten around her waist at her comment, or did she imagine that? Had he heard her?

“Almost there.” He said, though she refused to look anywhere but at his shoulder. She wasn’t going to look up or down or anywhere else until her feet were securely on the cement of the sidewalk.

“Aaaaaaaaaand...” Spider-Man drew out the word until she could fell the ground underfoot, “This is your stop. Be sure to put your tray table in the upright position and don’t forget your carry-on in the overhead compartment.”

Michelle looked up and saw she was indeed in front of the school, and a quick check of her watch told her that she had 12 minutes to spare. 

Spider-Man pressed a button on his web-shooters, and the webbing around the two of them dissolved, leaving no trace that it was ever there. 

Michelle took a step back from the hero, “Wow. Thank you, so, so much. I really needed to get here.”

He chuckled, “Of course. Don’t wanna tarnish that perfect attendance record, right?”

She smiled and nodded, “Yeah, I wouldn’t want the past two years to be for...” she realized something, and furrowed her brow, “... Nothing... How do you know about my perfect record?”

Spider-Man’s eyes widened, and he started to stutter an excuse, “Uh, well uh... ya see... Uh, Peter. Yeah, Peter told me about your perfect record... to convince me to come get you. I was going to anyway, but he hadn’t been sure if I was too busy or not or something had come up like a super-villian had broken out of Rykers, which happens a surprising amount considering how many times I’ve put those guys away. You’d think the guards would’ve known to put Rhino in a cell he couldn’t move in or-“

“Spider-Man!” Michelle said, snapping her fingers in front of his face to stop his rambling, “All you had to say was that Peter told you.”

He scratched the back of his head again, “Heh, yeah. I get carried away sometimes.”

“I noticed.” She said, then held a fist towards him, “I’m not a hugger, so a ‘thank you’ fist-bump for helping me is what you get.”

He returned it, and then gave her a two finger salute as he back away, “Have a good day at school, Miss Jones!” He shot a web and started to to swing away, calling back one last bit of advice, “Maybe set your alarms a little earlier!” Then he disappeared between two buildings out of Michelle’s sight. 

She smiled, then ran into the school, grabbing what she needed from her locker and booking it to class. She was able to get there four minutes before the bell rang, and found a to-go cup on her desk with a note.

_Hope you made it on time. Enjoy your tea. See you at lunch._  
_-P_

Michelle grinned, taking a sip of her tea, and sighing in ecstasy as the flavour of Earl Grey graced her tastebuds.

As the bell rang, and the rest of her classmates and her teacher filled the room, Michelle pushed the nagging thought of Spider-Man knowing about her perfect record to the back of her mind. She’d ask Peter about it later. Right now, she had a Biology class to focus on.


	6. The Time She Figured it Out

_Lunch Period_  
_Peter_

Peter had had a great day so far: 

No criminal activities that were serious enough for him to intervene had occurred.

Mister Stark had sent him a newly updated suit that, thankfully, kept the same look while upgrading the programs and tech in an inconceivable number of ways.

And he’d gotten to the cafeteria early enough to get a couple extra tater-tots from the lunch lady.

Today was a good day. 

Then his phone buzzed, and he just had to look at it.

A breaking news update flashed on his screen:

**Criminals Escape Rykers Island Prison**

Peter’s stomach turned and his heart dropped.

He quickly looked at the article to see who’d gotten out, _’Rhino, Scorpion, Lizard, Doc Ock, Electro and Goblin...’_

“Shit...” He clicked his phone off and leaned his forehead against his hand, “Couldn’t let me have one day, could they?”

“Who couldn’t let you have one day?” MJ’s voice made Peter jump as she and Ned took their seats at the table, “Someone giving you a hard time? Want me to beat em up?”

“Uh, no. That’s okay, thank you. I just... I need to go...”

MJ furrowed her brow, “Now? It’s lunch, Peter. What’s so important that you need to leave right this second?”

“It’s the, uh, Stark Internship... Mister Stark wants my-“

She waved a hand to cut his excuse at the base, “I don’t wanna hear anything else about the stupid internship, Peter. I want the truth. What is going on?”

Peter’s phone buzzed again, and he looked down at it, and his heart froze with fear.

—————————————————————————  
_MJ_

Peter looked down at his pocket across the table from her, and Michelle saw him go pale. He looked up at her, then to Ned, “Forget what I said. _You_ need to go. Both of you. Now.”

Michelle shook her head, “Peter, I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what-“ she didn’t even finish her sentence before Peter got up from the table, whispered something in Ned’s ear and then sprinted faster than she thought was possible out of the cafeteria.

Ned ran to the other side of the table, grabbing her hand and leading her out another exit. She tried to pull away, “Ned, what the hell? Where is he going? And why are you dragging me down the hall?”

He didn’t look at her, “I’ll explain once we get to a safer spot, but for right now...” He finished his sentence by slamming his hand down on a lockdown button beside a fire alarm.

Michelle pulled her hand free, wide eyed and in a state of shock, “What the hell are you doing?”

Ned opened up an empty classroom, shoving her inside before going in himself and locking the door, “Saving everyone’s lives.”

Michelle rubbed her temples. She was getting a headache with how vague and cryptic he and Peter were being, “Ned, I’m going to give you to the count of five to tell me what the fuck is going on, then I’m going out that door to find Peter and ask him myself.”

Ned’s face hardened, and he looked serious, “MJ, this is not some dumb thing that Peter and I are keeping from you like a surprise party. This is serious.”

Suddenly, a loud boom came from down the hall, and the building shook from whatever it was. A deep, bellowing laugh came from the same direction. 

Ned’s face went as pale as Peter’s had, “Very serious.”

—————————————————————————  
_Peter_

Peter was in the middle of putting his suit on when the building shook. A laugh echoing through the halls of the school that told him that the first of the villains had arrived. 

“Quit laughing, ya giant lunatic. You’ll let everyone know we’re here.” He heard the voice of Mac Gargan, (a.k.a. Scorpion), outside the closet he was in, “Then Spider-Man is gonna show up, and we’ll have problems.”

“Is this not what we want?” A heavy Russian accent answered, letting Peter know that Aleksei Sytsevich, better known as the Rhino, was with him, “We find the child, we find the spider. Is this not plan?”

“Yes, it is. But we wanna have the drop on him, rather than him having the drop on us.” Mac sounded like his patience were already wearing thin.

 _’Maybe I can use that to my advantage.’_ Peter thought as he pulled his mask over his head, quietly speaking to the AI, “Karen. Can you locate all of the escapees from Rykers?”

_“Yes, Peter. You have two coming down the hall towards you.”_

“Knew that.”

_“Two more are on the floors above. One on the second, one on the third.”_

“Which ones?”

_”Norman Osborne and Doctor Curtis Connors respectively.”_

“And Octavius and Dillon?”

_”Power surges near the gymnasium suggest Dillon is there. No sign of Doctor Octavius as of yet.”_

Peter jumped and climbed into a vent, crawling through it as he followed Rhino and Scorpion, “Keep me posted.”

_”Will do.”_

“And Karen?”

_”Yes?”_

“Send a message to Ned. Tell him nice work with the lockdown. And for him and MJ to stay hidden wherever they are until I say so.”

_”Got it. Anything else?”_

Peter took a breathe as he readied himself to jump down from the vent, “Wish me luck.”

_”Good luck, Peter.”_

Then he propelled himself through the grate underneath him and into the hall behind the villains, “Sup, guy’s? You here for show and tell?”

The two turned to him, Rhino snarling, “Spider.”

Peter held his arms out, “The one and only. You guys want an autograph? Picture? Both?”

Aleksei didn’t want to hear his jokes, and charged with a shout.

Peter jumped out of the way just in time, causing the behemoth to slide down the hall as he tried to stop, “Sorry. I don’t do hugs. Talk to my agent, maybe we can work something out.”

He turned his attention to Scorpion, who was brandishing a new, teched-up suit, “Hey, Mac. You look different. You do something new?” Scorpion swiped his tail at Peter, missing by a hair’s length. Peter kept taunting him, “Clean your visor?”

_*swipe*_

”Changed your stinger?”

_*swipe*_  
_*jab*_

“Brushed your teeth?”

Mac yelled and jumped for Peter, his tail rushing forward. Peter countered, slamming the end of it into the ground with a kick before webbing it in place.

“Man. I shoulda brought my Raid. Might’ve made this even easier.”

**”YAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!”**

A loud shout made him turn as Rhino came back at him, and he jumped up into the vent to dodge him, leaving Scorpion to take the full brunt of the charging giant.

A yelp came from Gargan, and as Peter hung upside down from the ceiling he saw that he was down for the count.

“Yikes. That one is definitely gonna leave a mark. He didn’t even get to respond with any witty banter.”

Aleksei glared at Peter, “I don’t need Gargan to smush you against pavement!” Then a sinister smile came over his face, “But help is still appreciated.”

Peter turned behind him just in time to see Electro come at him, but not in time to move out of the way. 

Max Dillon slammed into him, and it felt like a stun gun that had been hooked up to a... well, him.

Peter was thrown forward towards Rhino, who caught him out of the air in a hand that was big enough to almost wrap around Peter’s entire torso.

“Oh... This isn’t good.”

—————————————————————————  
_MJ_

When the loud boom went off, MJ and Ned had rushed under some tables. Thankfully, Ned had pushed her into one of the chemistry labs, so they had more coverage than an ordinary desk.

Ned looked at his phone as it buzzed, “It’s Peter. He says nice work with the lockdown, and not to go anywhere until he says it’s safe.”

“Where is he, Ned?”

“He didn’t say, but I’m sure he’s alright.” Ned reassured her, “He’s a lot tougher than he looks.”

“Yeah, that’s real helpful against a giant man in an indestructible mechanized suit, Leeds.”

***CRASH***

Suddenly, the wall opposite to the door exploded inward as Spider-Man was tossed through it, smashing into the wall on the other side, but not going through it.

He hit the ground, coughing as he stood back up, “Yep. I was right. That wasn’t good at all.”

He spotted her and Ned under the tables, and the eyes of his suit widened, “What the hell are you guys doing here?!”

“Hiding, genius!” MJ yelled.

The room started to smell of ozone, like when lightning was about to strike. Spider-Man, got into a fighting stance, “Stay down.” He ordered them, then dodged out of the way of a blast of electricity.

“Max! Come on, man! You’re better than this!” He jumped out of the way of another arc, “You don’t have to do this anymore!”

“Of course I do! I don’t have a choice!” The voice of Electro sounded like it came from inside a metal cone, changing octaves with each syllable, “There was never a choice.”

“There’s always a choice Max! You chose wrong!” Spider-Man shouted, then MJ saw him swing overhead and slam feet-first into Electro’s chest, knocking him out of the room. MJ looked to where they’d gone, and saw Spider-Man’s head look back to them, “Run!”

MJ didn’t need to be told twice, grabbing Ned by the hand and practically dragging him out of the room as the battle raged on behind them.

The two of the sprinted down the hall, then MJ turned a corner that was in the opposite direction of the exit.

“MJ! What are you doing!?”

“I’m not leaving Peter behind!” She called back as she ran off to find her friend.

—————————————————————————  
_Peter_

Electro was getting up off the floor when Rhino burst through the wall again, grabbing for Peter but just barley missing as he jumped out of the way, landing on the wall.

“Seriously guys, why here? What made you come to such a populated area? Populated by kids?!”

Max rose from the ground and bolts of lightning arced around him, “We were told that a kid here knows who you are, and where to find you.”

Rhino turned and grinned evilly at Peter, “Find the child, find the spider.”

Peter sighed, “Well, here I am. Don’t have to go looking for any kids after all, huh?”

Max shrugged, “We still got three other guys lookin for that kid, so we’ll either kill you now.”

“Or we kill you later, after we kill child.”

“How lovely.” Peter commented, sarcasm in his voice, “And not gonna happen.”

He jumped towards them, angling himself in the air so as to avoid a blast from Electro, causing it to hit Rhino and keep him in place for the time being.

Peter rolled on the ground, righting himself so that he faced Max, “Karen, grounding webs.”

The AI didn’t respond, but as the webs left his wrists he knew she’d changed them by the slightly darker colouring. He wrapped Electro in them, then brought him down to the ground and stuck him there. The webbing made it so that any electricity that he generated couldn’t be used to burn away the webs, assuring that he’d be stuck there.

Rhino shouted and charged again, and Peter jumped out of the way yet again, this time landing on his back, “Aleksei, my man. My comrade. What’re you doin? Wasn’t getting the snot beaten outta you twice by a guy not even half your size enough for you? I think it’s time for a career change.” He webbed up one of Aleksei’s hands, struggling to hold it in place and he thrashed around, “I’m thinking maybe ultimate fighting? I hear Russians are good at that.”

**”RAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!”**

Peter webbed his other hand, “Yeah, you’re probably right. Might be dangerous for the other guys. Wow, you are so considerate. Hmmm... what about construction, eh? Well, probably more demolition, but you get my point.”

**”AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”**

“No? Oooooh. I see, you don’t wanna do any of that big, strong, manly stuff, do you? You wanna have a little bakery on the corner of a street where you sell cupcakes and pastries to little old grannies for a nickel.”

**”WHAT I WANT IS TO CRUSH A SPIDER!”**

“Pest control?” Peter joking smacked his forehead, “Of course! why didn’t I think of that? Here, I’ve got a job for you...” he strained as he webbed Rhino’s hands to the back of his head, then attached a web to his horn. Aleksei started to charge, though Peter wasn’t quite sure where he thought he was going, “I’ve got a bit of a pest problem I’m dealing with right now. It’s a big mother, and it’s a real pain in my ass.” Peter jumped, coming down at the giant’s face with both feet and hitting hard. The Rhino smashed face first into the hard tile floor, turning most of it to rubble, but also being knocked unconscious from the large impact force.

Peter backflipped off of him, landing in a crouch before straightening up, “On the other hand, animal control might be able to handle a Rhino problem better than an exterminator.”

Peter looked up at the ceiling, his suit scanning the floors, “Karen, who’s the closest to me right now?”

_”Doctor Connors is in the ventilation shafts, down the hall behind you and to the right.”_

Peter started to run in that direction, “Great. Anyone nearby?”

_”Michelle Jones is rapidly approaching the Lizard’s location.”_

“What?!” He exclaimed, then picked up the pace down the hall.

—————————————————————————  
_MJ_

As she ran down the hall, Michelle dialled Peter’s number, “C’mon, Peter. Just this once, when I call you, pick up the damn phone on the first ring.”

The line rung three times, then she heard his voicemail.

_”Hey, this is Peter. If you’re hearing this, I’m away from my phone right now. Leave a message, and I’ll call you back as soon as I can. Thanks.”_

_*Beep*_

“Peter, for fucks sakes! Where are you?!” She all but shouted into her phone, “Spider-Man is here, and he’s fighting the Rhino and Electro and I don’t know who else and I don’t know where the hell you are! Call me back as soon as you get this!”

As she hung up, a sound came from behind her, and she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

It was a low hissing sound, drawing out the sound until it gave way to a voice, “Hhhhhhhhhhhhow sssssssssweeeeeeet...” Michelle turned, and saw The Lizard drop from the ceiling vent to the floor.

He towered above her, his eyes a vibrant yellow with the reptilian slit pupil. His skin was a pale green that darkened closer to his back while it was almost beige on his front. A tattered lab coat hung from his body in ribbons, and his elongated snout was filled with jagged teeth that would definitely leave more than just a nip.

Michelle took two steps back, and the Lizard took two towards her, “Your worries are for your friend, but I think you should be more worried about yourself.”

“HEY!”

Both Michelle and the Lizard looked down the hall behind him, and they saw Spider-Man sprinting towards them. He shot a web at the villain, sticking it to his snout and webbing his mouth shut for the time being.

The Lizard turned completely towards Spider-Man, nearly knocking Michelle over with his tail when he did. He launched at Spider-Man, who slid under his legs. having wrapped a web around one of the Lizard’s ankles, he pulled backwards causing the villain to trip and smack into the floor.

He didn’t move, but MJ knew that he probably wouldn’t be staying down for long.

Spider-Man looked to her, the eyes of his mask wide, “What the hell are you still doing here?! I said run! When people say run, that usually means running away!”

MJ didn’t have time to argue with him, “Can it, Spidey. I can’t find Peter. He ran off from the cafeteria and I haven’t heard from him since!”

Spider-Man grabbed her by the shoulders, “You need to go. Right now! I’ll be out when I’m finished with these guys, okay? I promise.”

She looked at him with a puzzled expression, “What about-“

“MJ I-“

***THUMP***

Spider-Man’s words were cut off as the Lizard’s tail slammed into his side, sending him sideways into the lockers.

The Lizard stalked up towards her, and she reached into her pocket, fingers wrapping around the one weapon she always had on her.

As the Lizard lunged forward to snap at her, she pulled out her can of pepper-spray, chucking it into the overgrown reptile’s mouth as she ducked under him.

She didn’t see him bite into the can, but she knew he did. It was evident from the loud shrieking that started from him. He thrashed around aimlessly, throwing his head back and forth as he tried to rid himself of the horrible feeling.

Spider-Man took advantage of the opportunity, kicking his opponent in the face hard enough to knock him backwards and hit the lockers, then webbing him up with more than a couple extra layers to keep him there.

Spider-Man was breathing heavy. He looked over to Michelle, “Please, MJ. I need you to go.”

“I’m not leaving without-...” Michelle blinked. It was the second time she’d heard it, though the first she’d thought she’d imagined, “Did you just call me... MJ?”

Realization crossed over her face, and her mind went into overdrive.

It couldn’t be. No way was that five foot six little nerd she’d met in freshman year Spider-Man. Right? Though it would explain the absences, the lateness, the constant falling asleep in class and practice, his panicked look whenever anyone questioned him on where he was going or where he’d been. 

Oh... oh no...

“Peter...?”

—————————————————————————  
_Peter_

He could see the wheels in MJ’s head turning as she figured it all out, and cursed himself.

He cursed himself for taking so long to tell her about him being Spider-Man. He should’ve don’t that as soon as he could.

He cursed himself again for the opposite reason. For slipping up and allowing her to figure it out.

“Peter...?” She finally whispered, and Peter tensed up.

She didn’t know for sure. He could still let her go on in ignorant bliss until it was a better time to tell her. But he knew that wasn’t really an option. She’d figure it out sooner or later. Might as well let her in on it now.

“Sure, yeah. Just announce my secret identity to the world. Not like there’s a crazed super villain behind me who I fight semi-regularly.” He joked, hoping to at the very least lessen the explosive reaction he was about to receive.

“ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!”

Well... that didn’t work.

MJ started to hit his chest with her fists, though he could barely even feel the impacts. Her words acted as intermediaries between each blow.

“You!”

_*thump*_

“God!”

_*thump*_

“Damn!”

_*thump*_

“Moron!”

Peter caught her hands, holding them down so she wouldn’t hit him anymore and so he could get her focus, “MJ, look at me. You can’t stay here, okay? There are two more villains around, and I have to find them before someone gets hurt.”

“You lied to me.”

His hands moved to cup her cheeks, “To keep you safe. To make sure that the people that I fight won’t go after you to get to me.“

She looked furious, “That wasn’t your decision to make!”

“I think it was. They’re my villains, which means they’re my problems to deal with.” He urged.

 _”I’ve located Doctor Octavius.”_ Karen’s voice came through his mask, _”Third floor. Room 326.”_

Peter’s head snapped up, the tech in his suit letting him look through the floors in the direction of Doctor Octopus. He saw him standing in the middle of a classroom, a group of students and a teacher were cornered in there with him.

“Oh no.” He lightly moved MJ out of the way as he started towards the window.

She followed him, “‘Oh no’? What’s ‘oh no’? What’s going on?” 

He faced her, walking backwards in the same direction, “MJ, stay here. It’s dangerous.”

“I am not going to sit around and be some damsel in distress! I am coming with you and- AH!” Her protests were stopped as Peter fired a web at her hand, sticking it to the wall and keeping her from going anywhere.

He back away towards the window again, “I’ll be back soon. I’m sorry.” He sprinted towards the window, smashing through it and shooting a web above him. Before he retracted it, he looked back at her and her deadly glare, “Don’t be mad at me, please!” Then he launched himself to the top floor of the school.

He broke through the window of the third floor, and he could already hear Jameson’s voice on the matter.

“He destroys city property! He has no consideration for the safety of the students in that school! He’s a menace!” Peter whispered, quietly imitating the paranoid man’s voice.

He could hear the sound of Doctor Octavius’ robotic arms moving, the heavy metal sound echoing through the halls. Then his voice, “I’m only going to ask so many times before I lose my patience!”

Peter jumped and stuck to the ceiling silently, “Hey, Droney, go see what Doc is doing.”

The emblem on his chest released itself, hovering for a moment before flying into the classroom that the doctor was in and sending a live feed to Peter’s mask.

Doctor Octavius was looming over a group of students who were all huddled together in a corner, while their teacher held his arms out to try and cover them.

In one of his metal hands Octavius held a photograph, though what it was of Peter couldn’t tell.

The teacher shouted at the doctor, “I’ve told you, we don’t know where she is!”

 _‘She?’_ Peter thought, _’And here I thought they were looking for me... Who else in this school would have a connection to Spider-Man?’_

Octavius snarled, “Perhaps you require motivation to jog your memory.”

The feed showed Octavius reach out with one of his metal arms and grab one of the students by her wrist, dragging her across the floor towards him before lifting her into the air.

Peter burst into action, jumping into the room and vaulting off the white-board at Octavius, “Put her down, Doc!”

Doc Ock rounded on Peter, a glare behind his goggles and a sneer on his lips, “Spider-Man.”

He struck with two of his arms, letting go of the girl in the process and letting her crawl backwards to rejoin her classmates. 

Peter maneuvered between the arms, landing a kick to the doctor’s chest. The same two arms circled around, coming at Peter from either side.

He webbed up one, pulling it down and into the ground to trap it, then turned to face the other one. He moved too slow, and the arm slammed into his chest, pushing him through the wall of the classroom and out into the hallway.

Octavius followed out into the hall, leaving a clear path for the students and teacher to make a break for it, escaping down the stairs towards the main exit.

“I suppose she called you, didn’t she?” Peter’s enemy taunted, “A cry for help. To come save her from the villains running rampant in the school.”

Peter rose to his feet, “For the first time since we first met, Doc, I have no idea who or what you’re talking about.”

Octavius grinned, “The girl, Spider-Man. The one at the theatre, and at the bus station. The one who you watch over every day as she makes her way home from this school.”

Peter’s kept his eyes from widening as he figured out what he was talking about, _’They aren’t here to find Peter Parker... they’re here to find MJ.’_

The eyes of his mask narrowed, and Octavius grinned again, “See? You do know what I’m talking about, don’t you?”

Peter glared at him, “You are not going to touch a hair on her head, or anyone else’s in this school. You are going back to Rykers, and I’m gonna dismantle those arms myself.”

Octavius stomped towards Peter, each of the four arms leaving a crater in the floor with each step, “You’ll do no such thing once I kill you.”

Peter threw his hands up in the air, “None of you seem to understand the lessons I keep teaching you.” He ran towards the doctor, leaping over top of him and firing webs at two of the arms, bringing them together and wrapping them in a ball of webbing.

“Or is it the concussion I gave you last time that’s causing memory loss? I might have to check in with Rhino after I’m done with you.”

Octavius snapped at Peter with one of the two remaining arms, closing the metal claw an inch from his head, “Stay still, you little bug!”

Peter shot a web at him, smacking him in the face across him mouth, “Now why would I wanna do that?” He quipped before jumping out of the way of the last arm and webbing it to the ground.

He jumped at Octavius, landing on the doctor’s back and frantically ripping wires out of the shell that produced the arms. He grabbed one of the bases for the arms, tearing it free from the pack and onto the ground, where it sparked for a moment before the humming that came from it stopped.

“NO!” Octavius shouted, and the remaining unwebbed arm clamped onto Peter’s back, tossing him away and bouncing him off a set of lockers. 

Peter got to his feet quickly, albeit a little unsteadily, before he was struck in the chest by another arm, Octavius having freed the two that’d been webbed together. 

Peter flew backwards through a door and into another classroom that, fortunately, was empty.

He got up slower that time, only managing to get to his knees before Octavius latched onto his ankle, throwing him around the room while never releasing his grip.

Peter hit the wall, the ceiling, a desk, another desk, a bookshelf, the wall again, the floor, the floor, the floor...

Octavius’ assault ended as he slammed Peter into the floor one last time, using enough force that he smashed through it and into the classroom below them.

Peter groaned as he pushed himself to his feet, “Ow...ow...ow...owwwww...”

Octavius crashed through the floor after him, creating a bigger hole than there’d been from just Peter.

Peter groaned, “Not cool, man. I’m gonna get blamed for that.”

A wicked cackling sounded from behind Peter, making the hair on the back of his neck stand up, “I think that’s the least of your problems right now, Spider-Man.” 

Peter turned and saw Norman Osborne, a.k.a. The Green Goblin, standing in the doorway of the room. His lips were drawn back in a sinister smile that made Peter’s stomach turn.

Still, he kept his resolve, adopting a fighting stance once again, “Let’s make this quick, guy’s. I don’t got all day.”

Osborne jumped into the air, his hover-board extending like Iron Man’s suit from panels on his feet.

Peter looked between the two villains, speaking to Karen as they approached him, “Hey, Karen?”

_”Yes, Peter?”_

“Can you tell May that I might be home late?”

_”Of course. Anything else?”_

Peter summer-salted over Osborne as he flew towards him, firing a web at one of the exhaust ports on the back, “Wish me luck!”

_”Good luck, Peter.”_

—————————————————————————  
_MJ_

MJ had cut through the webbing faster than she’d expected to, even with her just using her keys.

She’d have to tell Peter to upgrade whatever he used for his webs. Eventually of course, once she was finished giving him the silent treatment for not telling her that he’s Spider-Man for almost 2 years.

Granted they hadn’t really been friends around the time he would’ve gotten his powers, but that was still no excuse.

Pulling her hand free from the wall, she made a b-line for the stairwell to follow Peter upstairs.

Was it a smart plan?

Probably not, if she was being honest.

Did she have a plan at all?

No. Not really.

Was she running up those stairs anyway?

Yep.

MJ pulled the door to the second floor open, just as a loud crash shook the building, and a cloud of dust blew out of a nearby classroom. 

She could hear Peter’s voice, “Not cool, man. I’m gonna get blamed for that.”

MJ quietly snuck over to the doorway of the room, peeking inside and seeing Peter taking on both Doctor Octopus and the Green Goblin.

_’How many of these wackadoodles are there?’_

Doc Ock latched onto Peter’s ankle, tossing him at and through the wall that MJ was leaning against. Peter hit a set of lockers in the hall, leaving a large dent that probably meant that whatever was in them was most likely liquified.

Peter got up and saw MJ crouching, still out of sight of the villains. He threw his hands into the air in frustration, “Oh, come on!”

MJ ran past the doorway, gaining the attention of both villains and calling back to Peter, “I’ve got an idea! C’mon!”

She didn’t wait to see who gave chase, but judging by the shaking of the floor beneath her feet and what sounded like a jet engine, she thought it was a safe bet that the two evil guys had taken the bait.

A moment later she felt Peter’s arm wrap around her waist as he swung through he halls with her. He sounded a little miffed, “Run away, I said. Stay put, I said.” He looked at her as they landed back on the first floor, following as she took off down a hall, “What are you doing?”

“Electrical box!” She called, rounding a corner and throwing open a janitor’s closet. Inside was the large, metallic grey box with all kinds of wires and cables trailing from it all over the school.

Peter looked at the box, “Okay, great, how does this help me?”

MJ pointed at the box, “You get Doctor Octopus to hit that, it’ll fry him.”

Peter nodded, “And if I web the Goblin to him...”

“Two birds with one stone.”

Peter held his fist to her, and she bumped it with a grin on her face.

The sound of a large impact came from where they’d reached the first floor minutes earlier, and Peter’s instincts took over, “Thank you for the idea, but you need to go, now.”

“Peter, I-“

“MJ, listen to me. It is not safe for you here. They are here for you, and you don’t have powers, you can’t heal fast, you can’t hold off one of Doc’s arms or throw one of Goblin’s pumpkin bombs back at him.” He squeezed her hand reassuringly, “But I can. I have to. It’s my job.”

He pointed down the hall behind her, “Now when I say ’go’, you run as fast as you can out that door, and you find Ned. He’ll fill you in on any other details about this, okay?”

MJ was hesitant. She didn’t want to leave Peter behind to face those two alone, but she knew he was right. All she would’ve done is gotten in the way. She nodded, then pointed at him, “Fine. But you owe me a hell of a lot of tea and a full explanation, got it?”

Peter chuckled, “Deal. Now go.”

She turned and sprinted towards the doors, bursting through them as the sound of things smashing echoed behind her.

She ran to the front of the school where everyone had gathered. Ned saw her immediately, running over, “MJ! Holy shit, are you okay? Where’s Peter? Did you find him?”

Michelle glared at him lightly as she caught her breath, “You know exactly what Peter’s doing right now, Leeds.”

Ned paled, “Uh...”

She held up a hand to silence him, “I know now too, Ned. He’s fine. He’s got it covered.”

A light pole near them sparked and the bulb exploded, making Ned yelp as he jumped away. Michelle smiled, “And it looks like he listened to my plan.”

 _”Attention students and staff of Midtown Tech.”_ Peter’s voice sounded over the outside speakers for the intercom. He sounded like he’d just finished a 14-hour non-stop workout, which really could’ve been nothing for him as far as Michelle knew, _”Please do not enter the building until law enforcement has arrested the convicts and deemed it safe for re-entry. Thank you and have a great day. This has been a message from your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.”_

The intercom clicked off, and Principal Morita told everyone that they could go home because it could take a while before some of the convicts were taken back to Rykers. 

As he was saying this, several police and S.W.A.T. vehicles pulled up, and officers and soldiers alike moved into the school, guns and restraints at the ready.

Ned tapped on MJ’s arm, getting her attention, “C’mon. Peter’s gonna be a while before he gets back to us, so we might as well go home.”

Michelle looked back at the school once more before nodding and walking away with Ned, “Pizza and movies at my place?” She suggested, and Ned’s eyes lit up.

“Hell yeah.”

—————————————————————————  
_Peter_

After kicking ass, and simultaneously getting his ass kicked, Peter was lying on the roof of the school in his suit, breathing heavily as he tried to bring his heart rate down.

“Whoa..” He managed, the reality of him taking on and winning against 6 of his greatest foes in such a short amount of time finally hitting him, “Hey, Karen...?”

_”Yes, Peter?”_

“Am I dead? Or did that actually just happen?”

_”You are very much alive, and yes, it did occur. You have three cracked ribs and an minor concussion that can be used as evidence of that.”_

“That’s all? Wow, I’m tougher than even I thought I was.”

_”Your adrenaline levels are decreasing. You will need to rest soon.”_

Peter forced himself to get up, giving a two-finger salute to Karen as his head started to spin and his energy disappeared in seconds, “You gotit, Karen. I’m gonna...hava nap... right here.”

His vision went black as he fell towards the rooftop, and his consciousness left before he could feel the impact.

—————————————————————————  
_MJ_

Six hours had passed with no word from Peter, and MJ would’ve been lying if she said she wasn’t a little nervous. 

Sure, he was Spider-Man, but that in no way made him invincible... she didn’t think so anyway.

Ned assured her that he’d be alright, and that he probably just got caught up in some superhero stuff, or needed to rest after all of that. 

Damn Leeds and his ability to use logic against her instinctual need to worry.

He was right though. Peter had done some monumentally astounding feats over the past two years as Spider-Man. Some of them very stupid ones, like going to Germany and fighting the god-damn Avengers, or nearly fucking his whole super-gig up by fighting a villain that cut a ferry in half, (She’d have to ask him about that one too...).

But he’d also done some amazingly good ones, and after those he always seemed to come out stronger. So maybe her worrying was just a little unnecessary.

Another hour passed and Ned went home, and MJ went to bed soon after.

She didn’t sleep though. She stayed awake, reading and studying and reading some more, checking her phone every ten minutes to make sure she didn’t miss anything from Peter.

When she finally heard from him, she had almost dozed off, only to be woken by a loud thump on her bedroom floor, followed quickly by a quiet whine:

“...Ow...”

Blinking to adjust to the light, she saw that her window was wide open, which was concerning seeing as she never opened it at night for obvious reasons.

Shifting herself to look over the foot of her bed, she saw Peter lying on her floor, still in his Spidey suit, sprawled out on his back.

“Hi, Peter.” She said simply, watching as he turned his head, and the lenses of his mask narrowed and widened as he probably focused on her, “Hey, MJ...”

“Why are you in my room at 1 in the morning?”

“I told you I’d let you know when I was okay... well, I’m okay.”

Michelle rolled her eyes, “Uh, huh. And where have you been for more than twelve hours?”

“I passed out on the roof.”

“Of the school?”

“Yeah...”

Michelle got out of bed, swiftly pulling her hair up to keep it out of her face as she helped Peter to his feet so he could sit on her desk chair.

She took a closer look at his suit. The tech that went into it was probably amazing. To be able to harden on impact like she’d discovered last time, or the ways that the lenses seemed to work based off the movements of his own eyelids.

“No, Karen. This isn’t like what was going on with Liz.” Peter half whispered to someone, making Michelle a bit concerned as there was nobody else in the room with them.

She tilted her head, “What about Liz? Whose Karen? Are you hearing voices, Peter?”

Peter just pointed to his mask, “Mister Stark put an AI in my suit. Keeps me up to date so I don’t have to focus on everything myself.”

“And... you named her Karen?”

“Yep.”

MJ made an impressed sound, “Hm. Cool.”

Another pause before Peter whispered again, not as quietly this time, “I’m glad you like her, now can you please be quiet? Thank you.”

Michelle reached up to the top of Peter’s mask, hovering over it with a question in her eyes.

Peter seemed to understand, “Yeah, go ahead.”

She grasped the top of the mask gently, pulling it up and off to reveal the face of the geeky teenager underneath. he was a bit beaten up, with a split lip and what was either the beginning or ending of a black eye, but he was still the dweeb that she went to school with.

She smiled at him, “Y’know, for such a smart guy, you really are a dumbass.”

Peter chuckled, “You’d be surprised how often I get that.”

“Yeah, I doubt that.” She said, then quickly leaned forward, pressing her lips to his as her eyes closed. This earned a surprised squeak to escape Peter, causing her to almost laugh out loud and break the connection.

She wasn’t quite sure why she was kissing him, or what had prompted her to do so. But it felt right. It felt like something had been building to this just behind the scenes. 

She pulled away just as fast, covering her mouth from laughing as she saw the stunned look on Peter’s face, “You okay, Peter?”

“Uhhhhhhhhh... I think so? I think I might’ve just had a stroke...”

She scoffed, rolling her eyes and handing him his mask, “Well get Karen to help you get home then, cause you can’t stay here. My parents are probably not gonna be too thrilled if they come to wake me up tomorrow morning and there’s a boy asleep in my room. And it’ll be even worse if they find _Spider-Man_ asleep in my room.”

Peter seemed to be on autopilot, pulling his mask back over his head and walking over to the window without any real thought process as she kept talking, “Thank you for letting me know you’re alright. Now you gotta make sure May knows too.”

He nodded absentmindedly as he climbed out onto the fire escape, then she called softly to him, “Hey.”

He turned to look at her, and she winked, “Catch ya later, Tiger.”

At that, Peter jumped off the fire escape, shooting a web at the side of a building and swinging in the direction of his own apartment.

As Michelle went to close her window, she could hear him a few blocks down, cheering excitedly. 

_”WAAAAAAHHHHHHHH HOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”_

She laughed as she closed the window, shaking her head at the dork that she definitely wasn’t obsessed with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tbh this one is so long because I kept getting ideas for things to add and I loved them all that I just kept adding and adding and adding until it became almost 7k words.
> 
> Thank you for reading and enjoying. If you feel like it, maybe send me a suggestion for another Spideychelle fic to write? I’m open for suggestions.
> 
> Details on how to send me suggestions can be found in my profile.
> 
> Thanks again!


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